984- e 

Bern 


31fi 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

e. 


Class 


YB   1314 


E  GOSPEL  OF 
OOD  HEALTH 


BROWN 


THE    GOSPEL    OF   GOOD 
HEALTH 


BY 


CHARLES   REYNOLDS   BROWN 


THE    PILGRIM    PRESS 

NEW  YORK         BOSTON         CHICAGO 


GENERAL 


And  he  showed  me  a  river  of 
water  of  life,  bright  as  crystal, 
proceeding  out  of  the  throne  of 
God  and  of  the  Lamb,  in  the  midst 
of  the  street  thereof.  And  on  this 
side  of  the  river  and  on  that  was 
the  tree  of  life,  bearing  twelve 
manner  of  fruits,  yielding  its  fruit 
every  month:  and  the  leaves  of 
the  tree  were  for  the  healing  of 

the  nations. 

REVELATION  22  : 1,  2. 


COPYRIGHT,  1908 
BY  LUTHER  H.  GARY 


\jr         "ic. 

I  UNIVERSITY 
THE 

GOSPEL  OF  GOOD  HEALTH 


1 N  the  vision  of  the  seer,  "  the  leaves  of  the 
tree  were  for  the  healing  of  the  nations."  The 
leaves,  rather  than  the  fruit,  became  in  his 
mind  the  graceful  symbols  of  the  divine  in- 
terest in  the  curing  of  disease.  The  leaves 
represent  that  which  is  incidental,  a  kind  of 
by-product.  The  main  business  of  the  tree 
was  to  produce  fruit;  it  bore  fruit  every 
month  —  "  all  manner  of  fruit  "  —  and  un- 
doubtedly the  same  kind  of  fruit  as  that 
named  by  the  apostle.  Now  "  the  fruit  of 
the  Spirit,"  he  says,  "  is  love,  joy,  peace, 
patience,  gentleness,  goodness,  faithfulness, 
mildness,  and  self-control."  These  useful 
moral  qualities  are  the  fruits  of  the  Spirit; 
the  type  of  character  here  indicated  is  the 
real  fruit  which  the  tree  of  life  is  intended 
to  produce  in  the  garden  of  human  experi- 
ence. But  incidental  to  its  main  purpose, 
thrown  in  as  you  might  say,  there  is  a 
further  ministry  to  good  health  — "  the 
leaves  of  the  tree  are  for  the  healing  of  the 
nations." 

I  wish  to  make  this  distinction  clear  at  the 
outset  because  in  all  our  communities  there 
are  groups  of  religiously  disposed  people  who 
make  physical  healing  the  central  object  of 


their  interest.  They  talk  about  it,  they  think 
about  it,  they  write  about  it,  incessantly.  In 
their  published  statements  they  deny  the  very 
existence  of  disease,  but  with  a  curious  incon- 
sistency they  at  once  proceed  to  spend  their 
main  strength  in  a  heroic  effort  to  heal  that 
non-existent  illness  without  the  use  of  drugs. 
In  doing  this  they  virtually  narrow  down  their 
religious  interest  to  the  business  of  raising 
leaves.  When  the  day  of  judgment  comes  it 
is  to  be  feared  that  many  of  them  will  have 
"  nothing  but  leaves "  to  show,  for  the 
reason  that  they  have  been  slighting  the 
weightier  matters  of  useful  and  unselfish 
service  in  their  zeal  to  "  demonstrate  "  their 
ability  to  keep  these  perishable  bodies  in 
good  trim.  To  do  this  is  to  unduly  exalt  that 
which  is  incidental  and  make  it  central. 

We  shall  part  company  with  these  physi- 
cal bodies  of  ours  very  soon  at  best.  The 
great  question  therefore  is  not  whether  a  man 
has  a  good  liver  and  a  sound  stomach,  but 
whether  he  is  sane  and  true,  whether  he  is 
upright,  unselfish,  serviceable  in  his  personal 
character.  These  groups  of  people  who 
make  physical  healing  their  chief  concern  can 
show  a  considerable  number  of  cures  of  a  cer- 
tain sort  —  they  are  in  the  leaf  business  and 
it  would  be  strange  if  they  did  not  at  times 
produce  fairly  good  crops  of  these  leaves. 
But  when  you  make  inquiry  as  to  the  general 
yield  of  fruit  in  the  form  of  useful  service, 
when  you  ask  them  about  providing  homes 
for  the  orphans  and  the  aged,  about  making 


[7] 

provision  for  the  poor  through  wisely  ad- 
ministered and  generously  sustained  chari- 
ties, about  bringing  to  bear  those  better  in- 
fluences upon  the  neglected  portions  of  our 
cities  through  social  settlements  and  other 
valued  forms  of  endeavor,  about  providing 
well-rounded  Christian  men  and  women  thor- 
oughly furnished  for  every  good  work,  they 
have  not  much  to  say  for  themselves.  They 
have  unfortunately  been  occupied  for  the 
most  part  in  raising  those  leaves  which  are 
for  the  healing  of  certain  minor  bodily 
ailments. 

Their  successes  are  confined  almost  en- 
tirely, if  not  altogether,  to  the  correction  of 
functional  troubles  as  distinct  from  cases 
of  organic  disease.  I  have  known  many  per- 
sons who  have  been  relieved  from  headaches, 
indigestion,  and  other  similar  disorders  by 
mental  therapeutics.  I  have  never  known  of 
a  case  of  organic  disease,  where  the  presence 
of  the  disease  was  conclusively  established 
by  competent  diagnosis  before  the  treatment 
began  and  the  cure  of  it  similarly  proved 
at  the  end,  to  be  healed  by  that  line  of  effort 
alone.  The  principle  of  suggestion  has  great 
value  in  maladies  which  have  their  origin  in 
nervous  or  mental  disorders,  but  it  seems 
thus  far  to  have  had  little  or  no  efficacy  in 
the  face  of  serious  organic  disease  such  as 
cancer,  tuberculosis,  or  Bright's  disease.  It 
would  surely  be  for  the  safety  of  children 
and  of  the  untaught  generally,  if  mental 
healers  could  be  induced  either  by  law  or 


[8] 

by  the  power  of  public  opinion  to  confine 
their  efforts  to  that  class  of  cases  where  sci- 
entific research  and  wide  experience  unite 
in  indicating  that  suggestive  therapeutics 
may  operate  with  some  hope  of  success. 

But  having  pointed  out  the  distinction  be- 
tween what  is  central  and  what  is  incidental 
to  the  main  purpose  of  the  gospel,  I  wish 
to  ask  what  is  here  offered  us  in  our  Bible  for 
our  health.  The  Church  of  Jesus  Christ 
ought  to  "  teach  health,"  not  as  its  chief  busi- 
ness, but  as  a  leaf  on  the  tree  of  its  main  pur- 
pose, which,  as  already  indicated,,  is  to  pro- 
duce the  good  fruit  of  Christian  character 
and  service.  We  have  been  unnecessarily 
frightened  perhaps  by  the  nonsense  and  wild- 
fire which  so  often  characterize  this  phase  of 
religious  experience.  We  have  neglected 
what  had  better  have  been  patiently  cultivated 
with  intelligence  and  love.  We  would  not 
have  so  many  religious  side-shows  to-day  if 
the  performance  in  the  main  tent  had  been  to 
a  greater  degree  well-rounded  and  complete. 
We  ought  to  be  able  to  offer  to  all  who 
come  the  total  helpfulness  of  the  gospel  of 
the  Son  of  God. 

It  has  seemed  to  me  that  in  the  last  half 
of  the  nineteenth  century  there  was  a  wide- 
spread tendency  to  depend  too  much  on  the 
without  and  not  enough  on  the  within.  West- 
ward the  star  of  empire  took  its  way  for 
centuries,  seeking  new  fields  for  material 
development.  Now,  as  some  one  said  the  other 
day,  "  Inward  the  star  of  empire  takes  its 


way."  There  has  come  a  wholesome  reaction 
from  the  almost  idolatrous  trust  in  material 
things  and  a  quickening  of  interest  in  forces 
unseen.  Men  and  women  have  begun  anew 
to  cultivate,  to  honor,  to  confide  in,  that 
which  is  within,  and  this  disposition  shows  it- 
self in  many  ways.  The  kingdoms  of  this 
world,  bodily  health,  mental  development,  so- 
cial charm,  useful  action,  are  by  this  move- 
ment from  within  becoming  more  truly  and 
steadily  kingdoms  of  the  Spirit  of  Christ  — 
no  longer  rebellious,  no  longer  separate  and 
independent,  but  submissive  and  harmonious 
kingdoms  of  the  divine  Spirit. 

And  I  believe  the  main  hope  of  our  Chris- 
tian world  for  improved  health,  and  for  the 
consequent  larger  joy  and  effectiveness,  lies 
not  so  much  in  the  increased  efficiency  of  med- 
ical science  in  dealing  with  disease  when  it 
has  actually  fastened  upon  the  patient,  im- 
portant as  this  is  —  I  believe  our  main  hope 
lies  in  so  strengthening  the  inner  life  as  to 
secure  increased  immunity  from  the  inroads 
of  disease. 

Here  is  a  gold  mine,  not  far  away  in  the 
mountains,  but  deeply  buried  in  your  own 
inner  life!  It  has  never  been  adequately 
worked.  You  have  your  mind  and  spirit  al- 
ways with  you,  and  they  are  always  in  touch 
with  all  your  members ;  they  sustain  un- 
brokenly  sympathetic  and  vital  relations  with 
all  those  functions  upon  which  we  depend  for 
healthy  life.  These  inner  forces  may  be  util- 
ized by  intelligent  faith  and  a  wisely  directed 


[10] 

will  in  a  way  that  will  put  you  in  possession 
of  wonderful  values  which  for  years,  perhaps, 
have  been  hidden  under  the  soil  of  thoughtless- 
ness and  indifference.  You  can,  if  you  will, 
dig  down  and  develop  that  which  is  within 
you,  so  that  it  will  earn  for  you  and  for 
those  you  love  priceless  dividends! 

Let  me  indicate,  then,  certain  points  in 
this  gospel  of  good  health  as  it  stands  de- 
clared in  Holy  Scripture. 

First  of  all,  right  thoughts  as  the  prevail- 
ing habit  of  one's  mental  life  —  "  As  a  man 
thmketh  in  his  heart,  so  is  he."  This  does 
not  mean  that  a  single  thought  will  cure  a 
cancer  or  even  fill  an  aching  tooth  —  the 
men  who  wrote  the  Bible  were  not  crazy. 
It  does  mean  that  states  of  mind  tend 
constantly  to  register  themselves  in  conse- 
quent physical  conditions.  Morbid  condi- 
tions of  mind  mean,  by  and  by,  morbid  con- 
ditions of  body.  Weakness,  irresolution,  fear, 
prepare  a  soil  altogether  favorable  for  the 
seeds  of  disease.  On  the  other  hand,  healthy 
states  of  mind  —  minds  free  from  all  grudge, 
bitterness,  envy,  minds  filled  with  faith  and 
hope  and  love  —  make  for  health  as  do  sun- 
shine, fresh  air,  and  pure  water.  As  a  man 
thinketh  in  his  heart,  steadily  and  insistently, 
be  it  up  or  down,  so  he  tends  to  become ! 

It  is  a  great  deal  harder  to  cultivate  right 
thoughts,  right  desires,  right  purposes  so 
that  they  shall  always  bear  rule  within,  than 
it  is  to  go  and  take  something  out  of  a  bottle 
—  the  real  heights  of  human  experience  are 


[n] 

never  reached  without  hard  climbing.  But 
the  cry  "  Good  health  for  a  dollar  a  bottle  " 
is  rapidly  becoming  a  spent  force.  The  cry 
of  good  health  at  the  price  of  the  culti- 
vation and  training  of  all  one's  powers,  physi- 
cal, mental,  spiritual,  by  bringing  them  into 
joyous  harmony  with  the  revealed  will  of  God, 
is  now  to  the  fore. 

And  this  mode  of  treatment  has  this  further 
advantage,  that  it  may,  and  to  be  genuinely 
and  permanently  efficacious  must,  include  the 
culture  and  development  of  the  entire  inner 
life  in  a  way  that  taking  something  out  of  a 
bottle  does  not.  Many  of  us  will  live  to  see 
the  day  when  there  will  be  growing  on  all  sides 
these  trees  of  life  covered  with  leaves  for  the 
healing  of  the  nations ;  and  the  common  peo- 
ple, having  heard  the  good  news  gladly,  will 
be  constantly  utilizing  this  source  of  help  for 
their  improved  health.  Strive  to  reach  the 
point  where  you  can  look  up  and  say,  "  Thy 
thoughts  are  my  thoughts,  and  thy  ways  are 
my  ways,  O  Lord,"  and  you  will  have  gone 
far  toward  the  realization  of  that  high  claim, 
"  As  a  man  thinketh  in  his  heart,  so  is  he." 

The  main  forms  of  fear  which  destroy  our 
peace  of  mind  and  thus  invite  the  approach  of 
certain  forms  of  disease  are  these  —  the  fear 
of  ill-health,  the  fear  of  adversity,  the  fear  of 
bereavement,  and  the  fear  of  failing  in  the 
performance  of  duty.  Other  fears  there  may 
be,  but  they  are  unimportant  as  compared 
with  these  four  main  forms ;  and  in  the 
very  forefront  of  all  harassing  apprehension 


marches  this  terrible  fear  of  possible  physical 
inadequacy. 

It  cannot  be  lightly  regarded;  we  cannot 
shoo  it  away  by  a  wave  of  the  hand  or  by 
some  fantastic  flourish  of  the  mind.  The  peo- 
ple who  assert  that  the  thing  feared  has  no 
reality  are  simply  flighty.  Sickness  and  pain, 
disease  and  death,  are  all  stern  realities  to  be 
met  and  faced,  and,  as  far  as  may  be,  con- 
quered. The  vital  question  is  in  what  mood 
we  can  best  approach  them  when  they  come. 

I  know  of  none  better  than  the  high  mood 
of  the  singer  who  sang  in  olden  time,  "  I  will 
fear  no  evil,  for  Thou  art  with  me."  With 
all  the  practical  wisdom  you  have  shape 
means  to  ends ;  lay  hold  of  every  available 
form  of  assistance  in  averting  and  counter- 
acting sickness,  sorrow,  adversity,  and  fail- 
ure. But  when  all  visible  forms  of  assistance 
are  in  place,  know  that  it  will  add  to  your 
prospect  of  victory  immeasurably  if  you 
make  your  struggle  unabashed,  unafraid,  be- 
cause you  have  caught  the  spirit  of  that  song 
and  have  embodied  it  in  those  thought  habits 
which  dominate  your  inner  life. 

I  will  not  fear!  Suppose  each  morning 
when  you  awake  to  a  hard  day,  you  utilize  the 
well-known  principle  of  mental  suggestion 
by  deliberately  storing  the  mind  with  right 
thoughts.  Begin  your  day  with  the  repeti- 
tion of  certain  assurances  from  Holy  Writ, 
uttering  them  over  and  over  with  your  lips 
and  your  mind  and  your  soul,  until  the  full 
strength  of  them  is  felt  in  every  cell  of  your 


being.  "  I  will  fear  no  evil,  for  Thou  art  with 
me."  "  In  quietness  and  in  confidence  shall 
be  my  strength."  "  Be  still,  and  know  that 
he  is  God."  "  The  Lord  of  hosts  is  with  me ; 
the  God  of  Jacob  is  my  refuge."  "  Fear 
not,  only  believe  —  all  things  are  possi- 
ble to  him  that  believeth."  "  I  know  Whom 
I  have  believed,  and  I  am  persuaded  that  he 
is  able  to  keep  that  which  I  have  committed 
unto  him."  "  He  f  orgiveth  all  my  iniquities  ; 
he  healeth  all  my  diseases ;  he  redeemeth  my 
life  from  destruction ;  he  satisfieth  my  mouth 
with  good  things,  so  that  my  youth  is  re- 
newed like  the  eagle's !  "  Begin  the  day  with 
these  promises  ringing  in  your  ears,  singing 
through  the  secret  chambers  of  your  mind, 
throbbing  with  added  strength  in  the  pulsa- 
tions of  your  heart!  When  you  relax  the 
tired  muscles  and  the  weary  brain  at  night 
as  you  sink  to  sleep,  do  it  with  these  same 
confident  assurances  furnishing  your  final 
mood  and  yielding  their  wholesome,  restful 
influence  through  all  the  hours  of  sleep ! 

I  cannot  tell  you  all  it  would  mean  for  you 
to  do  just  this,  but  I  could  tell  you  much. 
My  report  would  be  born  of  long  experience 
in  a  busy,  strenuous  life  where  all  the  aids, 
seen  and  unseen,  were  needed,  and  where  when 
once  brought  into  commission  they  have  vin- 
dicated the  high  claims  I  here  advance  on 
their  behalf.  The  habit  of  serious,  resolute, 
trustful  meditation  upon  these  divine  assur- 
ances, once  formed  and  held,  works  its  own 
marvels.  Souls  once  timid  and  despairing  are 


[14} 

led  to  say,  "  We  never  saw  it  on  this  fashion." 
The  verifiable  results  of  such  a  practise  upon 
health,  upon  mental  adequacy,  upon  char- 
acter, delicate  and  imperceptible  though  they 
seem  at  first,  are  increasingly  registered  upon 
the  life  within  until  they  utter  themselves  in 
an  enlarged  and  well-grounded  efficiency  for 
all  life's  tasks.  This  is  what  the  Psalmist 
said  —  he  was  perfectly  aware  of  the  fact 
that  life  would  not  be  all  green  pastures  and 
still  waters ;  he  would  be  compelled  to  walk 
in  and  through  the  valley  of  many  a  shadow, 
but,  come  what  might,  still  he  would  not  fear 
nor  be  afraid.  The  man  whose  inmost  soul 
is  filled  with  and  possessed  by  such  thoughts 
finds  himself  strongly  fortified  against  the 
^  encroachments  of  disease. 

In  the  second  place,  high  expectations  as 
the  fundamental  choice  of  your  deepest  and 
best  self  — "  According  to  your  faith  be  it 
unto  you"  The  language  of  Scripture  is  al- 
most always  the  language  of  great  expecta- 
tion, the  only  condition  put  upon  it  being  the 
receptivity  of  men.  "  Open  thy  mouth  wide, 
and  I  will  fill  it  "  —  there  is  no  lack  of  ma- 
terial with  the  Lord.  "  Prove  me  now  here- 
with, saith  the  Lord ;  make  your  consecration 
complete,  and  see  if  I  will  not  open  the  win- 
dows of  heaven  and  pour  you  out  such  a  bless- 
ing that  there  shall  not  be  room  enough  to  re- 
ceive it."  "  Stand  up  straight,  the  ceiling  is 
high  "  —  you  will  not  bump  your  head !  Ac- 
cording to  your  faith,  your  openness,  your 
willingness,  your  capacity,  be  it  unto  you! 


15  ] 

There  is  nothing  shadowy  or  unreal  about  it 
—  men  do  become  very  largely  what  they  ex- 
pect to  become  in  that  hidden  faith  which 
does  not  always  utter  itself  in  formal  creeds, 
but  shows  itself  in  shaping  those  persistent 
aspirations  which  control  the  life.  Include 
within  the  firm  grip  of  your  anticipation  this 
physical  nature,  coveting  for  it  earnestly  the 
best  there  is,  and  according  to  your  faith  be 
it  unto  you ! 

The  people  who  are  continually  expecting 
to  catch  all  the  diseases  that  are  going, 
rarely  fail  —  they  usually  catch  them  all. 
The  people  who  live  in  perpetual  fear  and 
dread  and  apprehension  almost  always  re- 
alize, not  their  worst  fears  entire  —  that 
would  be  expecting  too  much  —  but  a  good 
working  percentage  of  them.  According  to 
their  expectation  it  is  gradually  wrought  out 
for  them  in  actual  experience. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  quiet,  serene  con- 
fidence of  the  intelligent  physician,  of  the 
trained  nurse,  or  of  the  well-poised  individual 
in  ordinary  life,  is  like  a  steel  armor  against 
all  the  attacks  of  disease,  as  each  one  goes 
courageously  about  his  business.  According 
to  their  faith  it  is  unto  them,  and  the  result 
is  vastly  different.  If  every  one  could  form 
the  habit  of  going  about  with  those  same 
familiar  words  from  the  Twenty-third  Psalm 
on  his  lips,  in  his  mind,  deeply  embedded  in 
his  heart,  —  "I  will  fear  no  evil,  for  Thou 
art  with  me !  I  will  fear  no  evil,  for  Thou  art 
with  me !  "  —  I  do  not  say  it  would  enable  him 


[16  ] 

to  lie  down  with  rattlesnakes  or  to  drink 
water  out  of  a  malarial  swamp  unhurt,  but 
it  would  add  to  his  prospects  for  good  health, 
in  some  cases  thirty,  in  some  sixty,  and  in 
some  a  hundredfold.  Pitch  your  expectation 
high  —  look  for  the  best,  hope  for  the  best, 
strive  for  the  best,  and  according  to  your 
faith  be  it  unto  you! 

In  the  third  place,  firm  resolution  as  the 
uncompromising  attitude  of  your  will  —  "  0 
woman,  great  is  thy  faith!  be  it  unto  thee 
even  as  thou  wilt! "  Here  was  a  mother 
whose  daughter  was  afflicted  with  one  of  those 
nervous  maladies  —  epilepsy  we  call  it  now 
—  which  often  baffle  the  skill  of  our  best  phy- 
sicians to  this  hour.  It  seemed  to  the  people 
of  that  day,  untrained  in  scientific  diagnosis, 
as  they  saw  her  writhing  in  her  distress,  that 
she  was  "  grievously  tormented  with  a  devil." 
The  best  account  of  the  matter  they  knew  how 
to  give  was  to  the  effect  that  the  nature  of 
the  child  had  been  overborne  by  some  hostile, 
malicious  personality  resident  within. 

The  woman  was  an  outsider,  a  Canaanite, 
but  she  came  boldly  to  Christ,  saying,  "  Thou 
Son  of  David,  have  mercy  on  me.  Have 
mercy  on  my  child."  She  was  not  only  a 
heathen,  she  was  noisy  and  inconsiderate. 
The  disciples  said,  "  Send  her  away,"  but  she 
only  cried  the  more  earnestly  to  Christ.  Then 
Jesus  said  to  her  gently,  "  I  am  sent  to  the 
lost  sheep  of  the  house  of  Israel."  Still  she 
was  not  repulsed  —  she  said,  "  Lord,  help 
But  Jesus  said,  further  testing  her 


[17] 

resolution,  "  It  is  not  meet  to  take  the  chil- 
dren's bread  and  give  it  to  the  dogs."  And 
the  woman  replied,  "  Yes,  Lord,  the  dogs  eat 
the  crumbs  which  fall  from  their  master's 
table  —  give  me  a  crumb  of  divine  help."  Her 
determination  leaped  all  the  barriers  of  race 
and  distance,  all  the  obstacles  which  a 
chronic  and  painful  illness  interposed!  And 
Jesus  said  to  her,  "  O  woman,  great  is  thy 
faith !  be  it  unto  thee  even  as  thou  wilt!  " 
Faith  expressing  itself  in  determination  had 
won  the  day  —  her  daughter  was  healed  from 
that  hour! 

If  you  will  stand  up,  your  mind  and  heart 
made  right  with  God  to  the  fullest  extent  you 
know,  and  in  God's  name  say,  "  Let  there  be 
health,"  and  keep  on  saying  it  resolutely, 
trustfully,  hopefully,  that  very  action  of 
your  inner  life  will  work  wonders.  I  do  not 
say  that  no  disease  can  stand  before  you,  for 
you  are  not  omnipotent,  but  I  do  say  that 
you  will  set  in  operation  one  of  the  great 
healing  forces  of  the  world. 

All  about  us  there  are  people  who  have 
stopped  talking  about  their  ills,  stopped 
thinking  about  them,  stopped  pitying  them- 
selves, who  are  saying  in  the  way  indicated, 
"  Let  there  be  health,"  and  there  is  health !  It 
is  done  unto  them  at  last  even  as  they  will. 
When  people  fix  their  eyes  on  something  high, 
fine,  useful,  linking  their  determination  with 
the  purpose  of  God  for  them,  and  say  bravely 
and  steadily,  We  will!  we  will!  we  will! 
they  are  putting  themselves  in  a  position  to 


t  18] 

come  off  more  than  conquerors  through  Him 
who  loves  us. 

I  have  tried  to  practise  what  I  preach  in 
this  matter,  and  I  feel  that  I  have  earned  the 
right  to  speak  as  one  having  some  measure  of 
experience.  I  have  never  been  one  of  those 
people,  to  whom  Ian  Maclaren  refers,  who  are 
"  so  brutally  and  offensively  healthy  as  to 
feel  no  true  sympathy  for  those  who  are  fight- 
ing for  their  very  lives."  I  was  not  born  a 
very  robust  baby,  and  many  of  my  years  have 
been  years  of  physical  struggle ;  and  with 
some  of  those  ills  I  struggle  now.  But  some 
twenty  years  ago  I  learned  better  how  to 
fight  —  I  gained  some  new  weapons ;  I  be- 
gan to  practise  a  different  formation.  This 
has  meant  a  long  series  of  victories.  I  have 
been  in  the  active  pastorate  now  over  nineteen 
years,  and  in  all  that  time  I  have  never  missed 
any  kind  of  an  appointment  on  account  of 
sickness. 

It  is  eighteen  years  ago  this  winter  since 
I  first  began  to  hear  people  discuss  the 
grippe,  which  had  then  become  epidemic  un- 
der that  title.  If  I  could  recall  all  that  I 
have  heard  about  that  malady  related  by 
those  who  were  temporarily  suffering  from  it, 
I  feel  sure  that  I  could  write  a  natural  his- 
tory of  the  grippe,  giving  all  the  symptoms 
in  order  and  rehearsing  all  the  unhappy  re- 
sults of  it.  This  endless  discoursing  upon 
it  was  not  beneficial  to  those  who  made  the 
painful  recitals  —  it  is  never  wise  to  talk 
without  a  purpose,  and  unless  one  is  talking 


[19] 

to  his  physician,  or  his  nurse,  or  his  pastor, 
or  some  member  of  his  family  about  his  ills 
with  some  definite  and  wholesome  end  in  view, 
he  had  better  not  talk  about  them  at  all. 

But  with  all  the  cases  I  have  visited  and 
with  all  the  discussions  to  which  I  have  lis- 
tened, I  have  never  had  the  grippe  myself ;  I 
never  expect  to  have  it,  and  I  do  not  rap 
wood  when  I  say  so,  for  there  is  nothing  of 
magic  in  it.  Some  honest  attention  to  God's 
laws  of  health,  which  are  as  sacred  as  the 
Ten  Commandments ;  some  ability  to  cherish 
right  thoughts  and  maintain  a  serene  confi- 
dence, and  some  power  of  resolution  have 
been  sufficient  thus  far  to  safeguard  me  from 
any  inroad  of  that  particular  malady.  In- 
sist on  being  well ;  go  to  bed  with  that  idea 
and  get  up  with  it;  carry  it  about  with  you 
as  you  carry  your  own  face  and  hands  about 
with  you  —  and  somehow  you  are  apt  to  find 
that  it  is  unto  you  even  as  you  will ! 

And  finally,  have  faith  in  God  as  the  Su- 
preme Friend  and  Helper  of  all  our  lives. 
"  Have  -faith  m  God,"  Jesus  said  to  his  trem- 
bling disciples,  and  although  he  sent  them 
forth  with  neither  purse  nor  scrip,  they 
found  in  this  new  and  high  confidence  in 
which  he  had  established  them,  an  abiding 
source  of  personal  reenforcement  and  an 
ample  furnishing  for  a  widely  beneficent 
service. 

In  a  certain  Eastern  city  there  is  a  hos- 
pital which  I  used  to  pass  and  repass,  and  it 
always  did  me  good  just  to  look  up  at  it. 


[20] 

The  building  is  brick,  but  set  in  the  front  of 
it  is  a  broad  marble  slab,  and  on  it  in  letters 
of  gold  are  these  plain  words,  "  HAVE  FAITH 
IN  GOD."  It  is  a  Christian  hospital,  as  you 
might  imagine.  Hundreds  of  sufferers,  borne 
thither  in  the  ambulance  or  assisted  up  the 
walk  by  loving  friends,  have  looked  up  at 
those  words  as  they  passed  in  at  the  door. 
I  am  sure  the  words  have  given  an  added 
courage  to  many  an  anxious  heart.  Hun- 
dreds of  sufferers  have  there  been  cured  as 
human  intelligence  and  human  love  have  co- 
operated with  those  healing  forces  which  are 
altogether  divine.  As  they  walked  away,  re- 
joicing in  health  regained,  perhaps  they 
looked  back  at  those  words  of  gold,  and  were 
made  by  the  message  they  conveyed  more 
deeply  grateful  to  Him  who  had  wrought 
with  his  chosen  servants  for  their  recovery. 
Have  faith  in  God  —  they  are  good  words 
to  have  engraved  upon  a  building  devoted 
to  healing,  or  upon  the  walls  of  one's  home, 
or  deeply  embedded  within  one's  heart! 
They  point  ever  to  a  sure  source  of  inex- 
haustible help. 

We  have  often  been  afraid  to  aim  boldly 
for  that  simple,  original,  spiritual  potency 
of  early  Christianity  which  in  the  days  of  the 
apostles  healed  the  sick  at  the  same  time 
that  it  was  saving  the  soul  from  sin.  Yet 
even  if  we  tried  and  failed,  it  would  do  us 
good  to  aim  high.  But  under  the  blind  lead- 
ership of  certain  fanatics,  many  people  have 
been  led  to  feel  that  if  they  undertook  to  ex- 


ercise  faith  in  God's  power  to  heal  directly, 
they  were  estopped  from  using  any  material 
remedies.  This  is  the  sheerest  nonsense.  The 
Almighty  is  not  so  touchy  as  to  withhold  his 
spiritual  aid,  because  the  patient  is  also  using 
some  material  remedy  which  he  himself  ex- 
pressly created  for  the  use  of  his  children. 
Those  narrow-minded  people  ought  not  to 
think  that  God  is  another  such  a  one  as 
themselves ! 

But,  we  are  told  with  an  air  of  finality, 
there  is  no  record  that  Jesus  ever  used  drugs. 
That  is  true  —  there  is  no  record  that  he  ever 
did.  There  is  no  record  that  he  ever  used 
an  elevator  or  a  telephone,  but  he  would  be 
a  foolish  man  who  would  insist  to-day  upon 
climbing  the  stairs  to  the  top  of  a  high  build- 
ing or  upon  doing  all  his  errands  on  foot, 
because  Jesus  never  used  an  elevator  or  a 
telephone.  Sometimes  a  drug  which  God 
made  and  which  men  have  learned  to  use, 
will  accomplish  a  certain  result  more  easily 
and  more  quickly  than  it  could  be  accom- 
plished (if  indeed  it  could  be  accomplished  at 
all)  by  purely  mental  and  spiritual  forces. 
He  would  be  a  foolish  man  indeed  who  would 
lightly  decline  its  help. 

And  the  very  people  who  declaim  so  loudly 
against  the  use  of  drugs  in  time  of  sickness, 
all  use  soap.  Soap  is  a  drug;  it  is  sold  at 
the  drug  stores ;  its  action  is  chemical.  If  a 
person  were  furnished  with  plenty  of  hot 
water  and  time  enough,  he  might  wash  his 
hands,  his  face,  or  his  clothing  clean  without 


soap,  but  it  can  be  done  more  quickly  and 
easily  with  soap;  and  for  that  reason  all 
sensible  people  use  this  drug  we  call  soap. 
The  very  people  who  become  so  agitated  over 
the  use  of  drugs  in  healing  disease  constantly 
use  soap  without  realizing,  apparently,  how 
very  funny  they  are  making  themselves  by 
their  inconsistency. 

Have  faith,  then,  in  God,  with  no  fear  what- 
soever that  you  are  discrediting  your  faith  in 
him  by  employing  all  those  useful  aids  which 
he  has  created  and  appointed  for  our  benefit ! 
Have  faith  in  God,  and  gather  to  yourself  all 
the  mighty  aid  which  you  can  claim  out  of 
the  Unseen  for  your  perfect  restoration ! 

The  divine  readiness  to  aid  us  along  physi- 
cal lines  reaches  farther  than  we  dream.  In 
certain  quarters  those  wild  and  extravagant 
guesses  which  always  precede  sober  investi- 
gation and  verifiable  knowledge  are  being 
made,  and  they  frequently  repel  the  more 
discriminating  minds  in  the  community.  But 
astronomy  was  not  first  —  astrology  was 
first,  the  awe,  the  wonder  and  the  interest  of 
men  in  the  stars  leading  to  all  manner  of 
fanciful  claims.  This  gradually  gave  place 
to  an  exact  science  which  now  maps  out  the 
courses  the  planets  take,  measures  the  dis- 
tances of  the  stars  from  each  other  and  from 
us,  weighs  their  huge  bulk,  and  by  its  spec- 
trum analysis  determines  even  the  fuel  they 
burn.  Chemistry  was  not  first  —  alchemy 
was  first  with  its  wild  attempts  to  transmute 
the  baser  metals  into  precious  gold  and  to 


[23] 

work  all  kinds  of  magic.  It  pointed  the  way 
for  the  coming  of  that  exact  science  which 
to-day  lays  whole  communities  under  obliga- 
tion to  it,  as  it  works  out  valued  results  in 
manufacture  and  in  agriculture,  in  the  treat- 
ment of  disease,  and  in  those  sanitary  meas- 
ures which  safeguard  the  health  of  the 
community. 

In  similar  fashion  those  movements  called 
"  Christian  Science,"  "  The  Home  of  Truth," 
or  "  New  Thought  "  are  the  astrology  and 
the  alchemy  of  modern  life,  pointing  the  at- 
tention of  the  world  in  a  direction  where 
useful  investigation  will  presently  discover 
values  unsuspected  as  yet.  We  are  not  to  be 
deceived  nor  repelled  by  the  wild  guesses  or 
the  extravagant  claims  made.  We  are  not  to 
take  leave  of  our  senses,  nor  to  make  asser- 
tions which  were  not  true  in  the  beginning, 
are  not  true  now,  and  never  shall  be  true, 
world  without  end.  We  are  to  separate  the 
wheat  from  the  chaff  and  then  sow  it  in  the 
good  soil  of  patient,  intelligent,  sympathetic 
effort,  where  it  will  bring  forth  in  some  cases 
thirty,  in  some  sixty,  and  in  some  a  hundred- 
fold of  increased  bodily  vigor. 

We  must  find  and  utilize  all  the  help  open 
to  us  through  mental  and  spiritual  agencies 
for  the  gaining  and  the  maintenance  of  sound 
health.  And  in  this  undertaking  we  are  to 
feel  that  the  One  who  stood  of  old  upon  the 
shore  of  the  Sea  of  Galilee  speaking  in  sym- 
pathetic but  confident  tones  to  that  boat-load 
of  discouraged  men  about  their  physical 


mi 

needs,  is  with  us  yet  and  for  us  ever.  "  Chil- 
dren, have  ye  any  health?  "  his  voice  cries  at 
this  hour !  "  Cast  your  hope  and  your  faith 
and  your  power  of  will  on  the  right  side  and 
ye  shall  find."  And  when  we  realize  the  full 
measure  of  help  open  to  us  in  that  quarter  we 
shall  say,  as  the  apostle  said  of  old,  but  with 
a  new  and  a  profounder  gratitude,  "  It  is  the 
Lord." 

You  will  make  a  sad  mistake  if  you  neglect 
that  sympathetic  figure  on  the  shore  who 
watches  you  as  you  struggle  through  long 
naghts  and  long  days  upon  the  sea  of  human 
effort,  often  taking  nothing,  or  as  you  fight 
against  the  inroads  of  some  dread  disease. 
You  will  live  far  below  the  appropriate  level 
of  thought,  of  feeling,  of  moral  action  and 
of  bodily  health  as  well,  if  you  neglect  His 
offer  of  assistance.  When  the  question  comes, 
"  Children,  are  you  gaining  the  deepest  de- 
sires of  your  hearts  ?  "  you  will  be  compelled 
to  answer  him,  "  No."  Watch  for  him,  then, 
on  the  shore  of  every  sea.  Listen  for  his 
voice  of  sympathetic  interest.  Cast  your 
net  of  effort  as  he  bids  you,  for  he  is  bring- 
ing to  us  at  this  hour,  in  the  very  turning  of 
the  popular  mind  to  these  lines  of  aspira- 
tion and  effort,  a  fresh  assurance  of  the  di- 
vine recognition  of  all  these  needs  and  of  the 
divine  readiness  to  aid  us  in  the  fulfilment  of 
our  highest  hopes ! 

In  undertaking  to  use  these  mental  and 
spiritual  aids  for  the  gaining  and  main- 
tenance of  sound  health,  we  shall  in  no  wise 


[25  ] 

advance  the  cause  by  any  sort  of  pretense  or 
make-believe.  I  have  heard  companies  of  well- 
fed,  well-dressed  people,  sitting  easily  on 
cushioned  seats,  behind  stained  glass,  their 
minds  considerably  befogged  by  persistent 
attempts  to  believe  what  their  common  sense 
told  them  was  not  true  —  I  have  heard  such 
companies  of  people  say,  "  There  is  no  reality 
in  sin,  sickness,  disease,  poverty,  or  death. 
All  is  good  and  all  is  God.  Everything  in 
the  world  is  just  lovely,  and  we  are  just 
lovely,  too." 

It  is  a  very  economical  view  to  take  of  the 
matter.  If  there  is  no  such  thing  as  pov- 
erty or  sickness,  then  of  course  we  are  not 
called  upon  to  give  any  of  our  money  to  main- 
tain homes,  hospitals,  relief  societies,  or  asso- 
ciated charities.  But  it  is  untrue;  it  is  a 
"  false  claim "  which  is  leading  scores  of 
confused  and  undiscriminating  people  to  be- 
come complacent,  self-centered,  self-satisfied, 
morally  indifferent  to  the  stern  needs  about 
them.  Sin  is  a  fact  —  young  men  not  out  of 
their  teens  take  pieces  of  gas-pipe  and  beat 
the  brains  out  of  helpless  victims  in  order  to 
rob  them.  Crime  is  a  fact  —  men  who  stand 
erect  upon  two  feet,  but  who  are  in  all  other 
respects  lower  than  the  four-footed  animals, 
perpetrate  their  crimes  against  the  honor 
and  purity  of  young  womanhood.  Poverty 
is  a  fact  —  a  hard,  bitter,  unyielding  fact, 
showing  itself  the  relentless  enemy  of  the 
bodily,  intellectual,  and  moral  well-being  of 
those  who  suffer  under  its  heel. 


[26] 

scare  it  away  with  big,  unmeaning  words  or 
by  any  silly  pretense  that  it  does  not  exist. 
It  can  only  be  relieved  by  generous,  intelli- 
gent, persistent  service.  Disease  and  death 
are  perpetually  recurring  facts,  bringing 
sorrow  in  their  train  to  the  homes  of  those 
who  hold  the  fantastic  theories  as  well  as  to 
those  who  still  trust  the  evidence  of  their  five 
senses.  We  cannot  dispose  of  the  tribulation 
of  the  world  by  vague  talk  about  there  being 
no  reality  to  it.  There  must  be  a  fearless 
facing  of  the  facts  of  experience  as  they  are, 
coupled  with  a  reasonable  reliance  upon  those 
forms  of  help  which  have  often  been  neglected 
because  they  were  unseen. 

With  that  open-eyed  honesty,  then,  which 
shuns  nothing  and  hides  nothing,  take  these 
gospel  ingredients,  right  thoughts,  high  ex- 
pectations, firm  resolution,  faith  in  God, 
and  employ  them  in  the  interests  of  a  more 
complete  and  abiding  state  of  health.  Mix 
them  together,  shake  them  well,  use  them 
freely!  You  need  not  measure  them  out 
narrowly  with  a  drop  tube  or  a  teaspoon 
—  there  is  nothing  in  them  which  will  hurt 
you  —  take  as  much  of  them  as  you  can 
contain.  They  will  do  you  good  and  only 
good. 

I  do  not  offer  them,  wholesome  though  they 
are,  as  an  infallible  panacea  for  all  the  ills 
there  are.  We  cannot,  even  with  these  aids, 
banish  all  suffering,  disease,  and  death.  One 
whose  right  thoughts,  high  expectations,  firm 
resolution  and  faith  in  God,  utterly  tran- 


[27] 

scended  anything  we  can  expect  to  attain  in 
this  present  world,  suffered.  "  He  learned 
obedience  by  the  things  that  he  suffered," 
the  Bible  says.  If  any  enthusiast  in  his  pres- 
ence had  claimed  that  there  was  "  no  reality 
in  sin,  sickness,  disease,  or  death,"  he  would 
have  regarded  such  a  one  as  not  altogether 
in  his  right  mind.  When  wicked  men  drove 
nails  through  his  feet  and  hands,  and  when 
they  pierced  his  side  with  a  spear,  he  suffered 
and  died. 

In  like  manner,  if  you  are  overtaken  by 
cruel  accident,  or  if  you  are  loaded  down  with 
more  work  and  care  and  necessary  anxiety 
than  you  have  strength  to  bear,  you  will  suf- 
fer and  it  may  be  you  will  incur  some  painful 
illness.  And  the  time  will  come  when  we  shall 
all  suffer  and  die.  When  we  have  done  our 
best,  living  under  present  conditions,  in 
crowded  cities,  with  the  water  and  food  sup- 
ply often  contaminated,  with  the  air  we 
breathe  becoming  sometimes  the  agent  of 
disease  rather  than  of  health,  a  certain 
amount  of  sickness  is  inevitable.  Reduce  the 
volume  of  it  by  wise  sanitation  and  by  taking 
all  personal  precautions  possible,  and  yet  a 
certain  percentage  of  people  will  be  ill  at 
some  time  during  the  year. 

And  even  that  which  is  best  in  us  sometimes 
becomes  the  occasion  of  a  depleted  vitality. 
The  father's  unselfish  ambition  for  the  well- 
being  of  his  children,  for  their  education,  or 
their  social  standing,  coupled  with  his  desire 
to  start  them  in  life  on  a  better  footing  than 


that  which  he  enjoyed,  carries  him  into  an 
amount  of  overwork  which  means  a  break- 
down. And  many  a  mother  suffers  from 
dragging  ill-health  because  she  gave  so  freely 
from  her  own  store  of  vitality  to  her  children. 
And  the  sympathetic  nature  of  many  another, 
in  the  face  of  the  struggles  of  those  who  are 
dear,  yields  itself  so  unreservedly  to  them  as 
to  lower  its  own  life  forces.  Do  our  best,  it 
still  remains  true  that  a  considerable  section 
of  the  whole  creation  groans  and  travails 
in  physical  pain  at  some  time  during  its 
career. 

There  are  offsets  and  compensations 
standing  over  against  all  such  unavoidable 
ills.  If  you  had  eyes  to  see,  ears  to  hear,  and 
a  heart  to  understand,  you  got  something  of 
great  value  out  of  your  last  illness.  It  did 
not  simply  bring  you  the  customary  feeling  of 
resentment  coupled  with  a  huge  doctor's  bill 
—  it  would  not  let  you  go  until  it  had  blessed 
you.  It  brought  you  what  the  Psalmist  pic- 
tured, an  enlargement  and  enrichment  of 
your  whole  being  —  "  Thou  hast  enlarged  me 
when  I  was  in  distress." 

When  you  are  called  to  lie  upon  a  bed  of 
pain  for  many  months,  or  to  spend  tiresome 
weeks  in  a  hospital,  or  to  lie  awake  through 
the  lonely  nights  and  hear  the  clock  strike  the 
weary  hours  when  sleep  is  denied,  you  may, 
if  you  will,  transmute  all  this  into  higher 
qualities  of  mind  and  heart.  You  may  come 
to  the  point  where  your  sympathies  go  out  as 
they  never  did  before  to  the  whole  army  of 


patient  sufferers ;  you  may  learn  to  think 
with  an  added  tenderness  of  those  who  lack  the 
comfort  and  alleviation  you  enjoy,  in  their 
time  of  pain;  you  may  enter  into  a  new 
appreciation  of  the  faithful,  unselfish  hero- 
ism of  the  poor  who  aid  each  other  in  their 
times  of  trial;  you  may  so  pass  through 
that  period  of  distress  as  to  be  enlarged  in 
your  whole  attitude  toward  the  ills  of  the 
world. 

When  we  go  along  prosperously  and  joy- 
ously, able  to  eat  three  meals  a  day  and  sleep 
eight  hours  every  night,  able  to  take  the  car 
for  the  place  of  business  at  the  usual  hour 
each  morning  with  never  an  interruption,  and 
able  to  do  our  full  share  of  the  world's  work, 
rej  oicing  in  the  chance  to  do  it,  we  may  begin 
to  fancy  that  this  flesh  which  walls  about  our 
life  is  brass  impregnable.  We  may  grow  cal- 
lous and  careless  touching  those  lives  which 
are  struggling  against  heavier*  odds  than 
ours,  those  lives  which  sometimes  go  down  for 
a  month  or  two  in  physical  defeat.  If  any 
man's  heart  is  becoming  small,  tight,  and  hard 
by  this  round  and  round  of  pleasant  experi- 
ences, it  may  be  that  there  is  no  other  way 
for  his  sympathies  to  be  brought  back  to  a 
more  abundant  life  than  for  him  to  travel  the 
way  of  pain  and  distress  himself.  Whether 
this  is  the  only  way  or  not,  it  is  one  way  — 
many  a  man  comes  through  such  an  ordeal  to 
walk  a  bit  more  slowly  for  the  rest  of  his  days 
but  with  new  sympathy  for  all  his  fellows. 
When  he  looks  down  into  his  own  heart  he 


[90] 

says  with  profound  gratitude,  "  The  Lord 
enlarged  me  when  I  was  in  distress." 

But  having  made  room  for  that  illness 
which  is  apparently  unavoidable,  and  having 
indicated  a  certain  high  office  it  may  perform 
in  moral  growth,  I  would  again  strongly  in- 
sist that  it  is  not  only  the  part  of  expediency 
but  morally  imperative  for  every  one  to  do 
all  that  lies  in  his  power  to  be  well,  steadily 
and  joyously  well.  It  is  part  of  our  Chris- 
tian duty  to  so  obey  God's  laws  of  health, 
which  are  as  sacred  as  if  he  had  actually 
spoken  them  aloud  from  Sinai,  to  so  order 
our  habits  with  reference  to  the  maintenance 
of  a  high  degree  of  effectiveness,  to  so  utilize 
all  means,  material  and  spiritual,  which  make 
for  soundness,  that  we  shall  be  up  to  the  mark 
in  physical  health. 

I  beseech  you,  as  did  the  apostle  of  old,  to 
present  your  bodies  a  living  —  not  a  half- 
dead  nor  a  diseased  but  a  living  —  offering 
unto  God,  holy  and  acceptable,  for  this  is 
your  reasonable  service.  Barring  out  acci- 
dents or  unhappy  hereditary  burdens  or  the 
overwork  which  sometimes  seems  inevitable, 
it  lies  within  the  power  of  a  great  number  of 
us  to  be  thus  ready  for  service  three  hundred 
and  sixty-five  days  in  the  year.  And  in  set- 
ting forth  with  that  high  resolve  we  shall  re- 
ceive unspeakable  reenforcement  from  those 
allies  which  are  inner  and  spiritual.  I  make 
no  unreal  or  extravagant  claims  for  this  gos- 
pel of  good  health,  but  I  know  from  the  Word 
of  God,  from  long  years  of  experience,  and 


[  31  ) 

from  wide  observation,  that  right  thoughts, 
high  expectations,  firm  resolution,  and  faith 
in  God  are  for  our  health.  They  are  leaves 
on  the  tree  of  life  to  be  used  for  the  healing 
of  the  nations. 

You  have  all  noticed  where  this  tree  of  life 
stood  —  "  in  the  middle  of  the  street."  It 
grew  and  flourished,  offering  its  gracious 
and  accessible  ministry,  there  in  the  center  of 
a  city  whose  walls  are  great  and  high.  The 
tree  of  healing  was  not  remote  from  the  com- 
mon life,  only  to  be  found  in  some  far-away 
garden  to  which  none  but  the  privileged 
might  go.  It  was  not  shut  away  in  some 
sacredly  guarded  enclosure  where  only  the 
chosen  few  were  admitted.  It  grew  right  in 
the  middle  of  the  street,  accessible  to  all,  a 
part  of  the  common,  daily  environment. 

We  do  not  need  to  make  pilgrimages  to 
some  distant  shrine,  or  to  go  apart  into  some 
mystical  occult  sect,  or  to  use  prescribed 
language  which  no  one  quite  understands,  in 
order  to  avail  ourselves  of  this  help.  Right 
here,  where  we  are  carrying  on  the  work  of 
ordinary  life,  where  we  are  using  our  common 
sense  in  our  daily  duties,  we  find  this  splendid 
tree  with  healing  in  its  very  leaves,  growing 
in  the  middle  of  the  busy  street.  If  you  will 
take  those  leaves  and  use  them  habitually,  it 
will  be  good  for  the  body  and  good  as  well  for 
the  soul.  Indeed  you  cannot  use  them  with 
the  highest  effectiveness  until  your  moral  pur- 
poses are  altogether  right.  The  very  fact 
that  God  is  pure,  that  God  is  love,  makes  it 


[M] 

plain  that  his  total  helpfulness  will  only  dwell 
where  purity  and  love  are.  You  will  find 
therefore,  in  seeking  to  rightly  use  the  leaves 
of  the  tree  for  the  healing  of  your  bodily  ills, 
that  you  will  be  led  also  to  eat  the  fruit  of  the 
tree  which  will  give  you  life  everlasting. 


OF    THt 

UNIVERSITY 

OF 


6156 


UNIVERSITY  OP  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 

THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 


YB   13147 


U.C.BERKELEY  LIBRARIES 


